Year the TENTH: Self-Imposed Year of Projects - Happy Blogiversary (tomorrow)! (Update #33)

Happy Monday! The weekend 100% got away from me and, frankly, I have more time to do this on Mondays now that the boys are back in school. With that said, let's get going!

FOs (Finished Objects)
1. Greenwood Fiberworks Dark BFL (Viktor): started 28 June 2020; finished 17 January 2021
2. Boo-Yah: started 26 January 2021; finished 27 January 2021
3. Minecraft Socks: started 12 August 2020; finished 6 March 2021
4. Alpaca (Viktor): started 17 January 2021; finished 17 March 2021
5. Dyeing Project: started 9 April, 2021; finished 9 April 2021
6. El Panal Cowl: started 5 April 2021; finished 29 April 2021
7. Rose City Rollers: started 7 March 2021; finished 1 June 2021
8. Unknown Wool (Viktor): started 26 June 2021; finished 27 June 2021
9. Abstract Fibers Merino Tencel (Viktor): started 27 June 2021; finished 29 June 2021
10. Frabjous Fibers Merino Top (Viktor): started 30 June 2021; finished 2 July 2021
11. Allons-y Fiber Arts Merino (Viktor): started 4 July 2021; finished 7 July 2021
12. Rose City Rollers: started 1 June 2021; finished 12 August 2021

I finished up the latest pair of Rose City Rollers. 

 

I had some Collinette Jitterbug leftovers from another sock project and it was the perfect amount for these socks so, you know, flippityjippity or something. This was pre-wash so my stitches might still be a little wonky. Regardless, I finished them, which is delightful. 

 

WIPs (Works-in-Progress) *these are carried over year after year, as needed*
1. Wink: started 5 January 2015
2. Shetland Neck Wool (support spindle): started 8 September 2017
3. Returning: started 14 January 2018
4. Faerie Mountain Fibers Crazy Batt (EEW Mini): started 13 April 2018
5. Granny Square Blanket: started 28 April 2018
6. UW Ski Hat: started 11 July 2018
7. Purl & Loop Weaving Project: started 28 August 2018
8. Herbivore: started 15 November 2018
9. Linen Stitch Scarf: started 2 June 2020
10. Vanilla Socks: started 9 August 2020
11. Sand Drift Blanket: started 17 January 2021
12. Flax for Stormageddon: started 29 April 2021
13. Rose City Zombies: started 13 August 2021

As predicted, I started another pair of socks, specifically another pair of Rose City Rollers. I'm using leftovers of Canon Hand Dyes Charles Self-Striping Sock in "Christmas Zombie" (leftover from my Zombie ViXen Fingerless Mitts) and some leftover Shalimar Yarn Breathless in "Concord Grape" (leftover from Sweet Girl's Hippo that I made ages ago). The purple will likely just be for the toes. 

In addition to that, I also pulled out my granny squares, finished another one, and started a new one. I could tell I hadn't worked on it in awhile because I almost forgot how to start a new one and almost had to look up a video. Thankfully, my brain got on board and I was able to get going on the new one. 

OMGLSGWTFBBQ

Design WIPs:
1. Messed Up Moss: started March 2009 - write pattern as PDF (iterations: first, second)
2. Susan's Hat: started 31 August 2010 - need new prototypes & write the pattern (iterations: first, second, third, mini, fifth, sixth)
3. Little Man's Baby Blanket: started July 2010 - need new prototype & write pattern (iteration: here)
4. Chunky Scarf: started 6 October 2012 - need new prototype & write pattern (iteration: here)
5. Pacific Waves Hat: started 9 March 2016 - need new prototype & write the pattern (iterations: first, second, third)
6. Fall in San Francisco: started 18 September 2016 - need new prototype & write pattern (iterations: first, second)
7. Stomping Grounds Collection: started 26 February 2017 - need prototypes & write patterns
8. Unnamed Hat Design: started 14 August 2017 - need various weight yarn prototypes & write pattern (iterations: first, second)
9. Paradiddle Socks: started 19 October 2017 - write pattern (iteration: here)

 

Design Ideas:
1. Christmas Stocking for Husband
2. Christmas Stocking for Little Man
3. Christmas Stocking for Stormageddon
4. Baby Blanket
5. Stomping Grounds Collection

 

Items for ME (Selfish Knitting FTW!):
1. Rose's Wrist Warmers (DK weight - using Aran instead; hand-dyed Malabrigo Twist?)
2. Perianth (fingering weight - Knitcircus Trampoline in The Whole Enchilada)
3. Stranger Things Hat (worsted - Malabrigo Rios in Archangel)
4. Autopilot (worsted weight - Sincere Sheep Cormo Worsted or htNEVELE Worsted in Reveire)
5. Fine Tune (fingering weight - uses minis so maybe a rainbow type one with the Canon Hand Dyes?)*
6. Flax (worsted weight - Misty Alpaca in the Harry Potter colors)
7. Park Slope (fingering weight - Mountain Fibers Crazyfoot in Shamrock)
8. Undone (bulky - maybe the reclaimed yarn from the Freeport Vest?)
9. Socks (fingering weight - Bob knows I have enough so I should use it - maybe with the CSM)
10. Sockhead (fingering weight - I have tons...pick something!)
11. Age of Brass & Steam (Handspun purple/white barber pole)
12. Radiate Shawl (fingering weight - Artfibers Carezza maybe?)

Children's Items/Knitting for others
1. Honey Badger: (worsted weight - black & white acrylic I have banging around the stash)*
2. Mittens for Stormageddon (worsted weight probably)
3. Maybe a Flax for Little Man...maybe...
4. Mittens for my grandmother (worsted, purple...she loves purple)

 

Utilitarian/Household Items
1. Garter Chevron Blanket (KP Mighty Stitch - may need to get some more black or white)
2. Diagonal Knit Dishcloths (cotton of some sort)
3. Reusable Produce Bag (cotton or acrylic of some sort - worsted)
4. Grandma's Favorite Dishcloth (cotton or maybe bamboo, depending on the use)

Spinning:

1. Wonderland Dyeworks BFL

2. Mixed BFL

3. Allons-Y Fiber Arts Merino, Trilobal Nylon, Silk

4. Fiberlady.com 100% Bamboo 

Dyeing:

1. Sock Blanks (I think I have 5 left)

2. Random worsted/sport skeins (I have maybe 2-3 left)

3. Anything else I find along the way (I don't think there's anything else)

Other Fibery Endeavors:

1. Create project bag inventory

2. Update library inventory (on Ravelry) *in progress*

3. Update stash inventory (on Ravelry) *needs to be redone*

4. Stitch markers: kits and individual

5. Destash as necessary (it's always necessary)

6. Stash Fit

 

 

As I mentioned last week, the boys started school this week, in person. To be honest, I'm still not loving the idea of the boys being back in person, regardless that our county is at 90.7% vaccination rate for all those eligible (12+ years old). I know there are plenty of idiots out in the world. But, there's not a lot I can do about it unless I want to pull them from the district entirely and homeschool them, which, while in my wheelhouse, is not something I want to do. 

 

 

 

Their first day was on Thursday. Stormageddon's mask broke so he wound up getting a new one. On Friday morning, poor kid got a spontaneous bloody nose because why not? It's only like the second bloody nose he's ever had. And then, after we got home from school, I couldn't find his lunchbox. Turns out some kids were being little jerks and took his lunchbox and were hitting him during lunch. To say I was upset was an understatement. I emailed his teacher to see if she could find the lunchbox (she did, thankfully) plus I emailed the principal after calling the school (she called back). And this morning I talked to one of our paraeducators and she told me she had already talked to the principal & his teacher and that she'd be keeping an extra eye on him. The kid is six years old and I get that this is likely the first year in an actual classroom for a lot of them but, seriously, it's ridiculous. Thankfully, he knows he has friends around him.

I really hope he has a better day today (I pick him up in a few hours). I felt so bad for him. We actually spent the weekend trying to track down the same lunchbox (even though his teacher did find his), just in case. It's good to have an extra around anyway. We also got him a special water bottle, just for him, which he was super excited about. Husband was bullied as a kid so he's extra sensitive to our kids when things like this happen.

Yesterday (Sunday) we made a lot of pickles. I think we wound up with something like 12-14 pints and 6-8 quarts of pickle spears from our cucumbers. We had more cucumbers but we had run out of jars. And there are more growing on the vines outside. So. Many. Cucumbers! 

 

 
These are what we started with. I think the bowl on the right/top only had a couple taken from there before we ran out of jars. Thankfully, I know some people that like cucumbers so I don't think we'll have an issue offloading them. 

Husband started his new job last Monday. So far, it's been a lot of HR videos and meetings and filling out paperwork. We'll see how things go. The new flooring will be going in within the next couple of weeks, which will help. We also adulted and bought a theater seat couch with the recliners. This is our first major furniture purchase, which isn't to say that we've never bought furniture before. Obviously we have. But usually it's Ikea, which has done us well, but we wanted something specific for the theater space so we spent the money and bought what we wanted. 

I went out for breakfast twice last week. Thursday we did our tradition of having mimosas on the first day of school. I don't have that photo, however. On Friday, another one of my mom friends didn't have to be to work til later so we went for coffee and breakfast burritos at Philz.

 

I'm also a little late today because I'm a teensy bit hungover. I went to another friends' house last night (three blocks away) and we had wine. Now, it's not like I had a whole bottle but the issue is that we started out with this:

This is almost like drinking Boone's Farm. Like, it's a little more "sophisticated" than that but it's still really easy to drink because it's like drinking juice. And then we switched to a dry red wine of some sort. I think that was the issue. The combination of the two and not enough water. Oh, and then I didn't sleep all that well because Puppy was up and down and up and down. Clearly he's not ready for bed sleeping yet. ::sigh::

Anyway, I hope you had a lovely weekend! My blogiversary is tomorrow and I've got nothing planned. Oh well. Woot woot!

Year NINE: Self-Imposed Year of Projects - Happy Blogiversary to me! (Update #33)

Happy Monday! Yes, I kind of waited a day on purpose because today is my Blogiversary! On this date in 2009, I started this blog (keeping in mind that I've had a blog in some way, shape, or form, since about 1994, way back when it was on another platform). So, happy day on the blog!

And now, let's get on with our regularly scheduled update!



FOs (Finished Objects):
1. Ewetopia Stripey Socks: started 15 November 2018; finished 29 January 2020
2. Tiny Turtle: started 7 November 2019; finished 30 January 2020
3. Mirkwood: started 9 February 2020; finished 17 February 2020
4. Campfire Socks: started 17 October 2018; frogged 9 April 2020
5. Sockhead: started 8 January 2020; finished 25 May 2020
6. Baby Yoda: started 14 March 2020; finished 13 June 2020
7. Abracadabra Socks: started 7 August 2018; finished 18 June 2020
8. Multi-Colored Merino Top (Viktor): started 16 January 2019; finished 30 June 2020
9. Oread Hat (test knit): started 2 July 2020; finished 11 July 2020
10. Prototype Something Something Raindrops: started 11 April 2019; finished 18 July 2020
11. Rose City Rollers: started 18 June 2020; finished 4 August 2020

Nothing new to report. I washed my Rose City Rollers in the washer and threw them in the dryer. They don't appear to have shrunk, which is good. But, they're not ready for their closeup, Mr. DeVille. 



WIPs (Works-in-Progress) (These are carried over year to year if needed):
1. Wink: started 5 January 2015
2. Shetland Neck Wool (support spindle): started 8 September 2017
3. Returning: started 14 January 2018
4. Faerie Mountain Fibers Crazy Batt (EEW Mini): started 13 April 2018
5. Granny Square Blanket: started 28 April 2018
6. UW Ski Hat: started 11 July 2018
7. Purl & Loop Weaving Project: started 28 August 2018
8. Herbivore: started 15 November 2018
9. Linen Stitch Scarf: started 2 June 2020
10. Greenwood Fiberworks Dark BFL (Viktor): started 28 June 2020
11. Vanilla Socks: started 9 August 2020
12. Minecraft Socks: started 12 August 2020

Clearly I have no self-control sometimes. 

Last week I mentioned that I had pulled yarn for several projects. Well, I spent some time winding some of that yarn this past week....and then I started knitting with some of it. 

Oops. 

To be fair, I always need a pair of socks going because I tend to use them for mindless/travel knitting. After finishing the Rose City Rollers, I didn't have any socks to work on. So, I remedied that. I've had a ball of Zauberball banging around in my stash for quite awhile. It has loooooooonnnnnnng gradient/color repeats so my socks are very unlikely to match, which is fine. It's also a single-spun, which maybe isn't ideal with socks but people swear that it wears like iron. Kind of like Noro, I suppose, though I hate the scratchiness of Noro. 

The second pair of socks I started are intended for Little Man (and when he outgrows them, as he will, they will become mine...pending that he doesn't destroy them). For those, I'm using a skein of madelinetosh Sock that I picked up with Little Man in mind, actually. He's excited about his future socks. He actually asked me yesterday if they were finished, though he knows I just started them. :eyeroll: That boy!

Aside from those two projects, I also wound the skein of Malabrigo Rios and two skeins of sock yarn for cowls, not that I've started them...but the yarn is wound and they're ready to go. 

I don't think I did much actual knitting other than that. 

OMFGLSGWTFBBQ Lists

Design WIPs:
1. Messed Up Moss: started March 2009 - write pattern as PDF (iterations: first, second)
2. Susan's Hat: started 31 August 2010 - need new prototypes & write the pattern (iterations: first, second, third, mini, fifth, sixth)
3. Little Man's Baby Blanket: started July 2010 - need new prototype & write pattern (iteration: here)
4. Chunky Scarf: started 6 October 2012 - need new prototype & write pattern (iteration: here)
5. Pacific Waves Hat: started 9 March 2016 - need new prototype & write the pattern (iterations: first, second, third)
6. Fall in San Francisco: started 18 September 2016 - need new prototype & write pattern (iterations: first, second)
7. Stomping Grounds Collection: started 26 February 2017 - need prototypes & write patterns
8. Unnamed Hat Design: started 14 August 2017 - need various weight yarn prototypes & write pattern (iterations: first, second)
9. Paradiddle Socks: started 19 October 2017 - write pattern (iteration: here)

Children's Items:

1. Oliver for Stormageddon (worsted weight - Stunning String Studio from Stitches West 2018) - I may change this to a different sweater using the same yarn
2. Honey Badger: (worsted weight - black & white acrylic I have banging around the stash)*
3. Mittens for Stormageddon (worsted weight probably)
4. I Love Stockinette Baby Bibs (worsted - cotton, acrylic, something)

Items for ME (Selfish Knitting FTW!):

1. Autopilot (worsted weight - Sincere Sheep Cormo Worsted or htNEVELE Worsted in Reveire)

2. Rose's Wrist Warmers (DK weight - using Aran instead; hand-dyed Malabrigo Twist?)

3. Perianth (fingering weight - Knitcircus Trampoline in The Whole Enchilada)

4. Pembroke Scarf (fingering weight - Fresh From the Cauldron Schoodic Sock in Sookie)

5. Flax (worsted weight - Misty Alpaca in the Harry Potter colors)

6. Park Slope (fingering weight - Mountain Fibers Crazyfoot in Shamrock)

7. Socks (fingering weight - I have tons...pick something!)

8. Washcloths/chewcloths (worsted weight - cotton)

9. Sockhead (fingering - I have tons...pick something!)

10. Age of Brass & Steam (Handspun purple/white barber pole)

Designs:

1. Christmas Stocking for Husband

2. Christmas Stocking for Little Man

3. Christmas Stocking for Stormageddon

4. Baby Blanket

Spinning:

1. Wonderland Dyeworks BFL

2. Mixed BFL

3. Allons-Y Fiber Arts Merino, Trilobal Nylon, Silk

4. Alpaca (from Lambtown 2014)

5. Fiberlady.com 100% Bamboo 

Dyeing:

1. Sock Blanks
2. Skeins of sock yarn

3. Anything else I find along the way

Other Fibery Endeavors:

1. Create project bag inventory

2. Update library inventory (on Ravelry)

3. Update stash inventory (on Ravelry)

4. Stitch markers

5. Destash as necessary

6. Stash Fit

This past week was our last week of summer. The boys started school today. We didn't do much, actually. The latter half of the week was so hot we didn't want to leave the house, much less attempt to actually do anything. 

One of the things that did happen, that is worth noting, is Husband printed me a bobbin for Viktor. I have to check to see if the shaft fits and, pending it does, I'll need to glue the pieces together. I'm a little excited. I haven't taken photos of it, yet. I'm going to see if it works first. 

Speaking of the 3D printer....we had to rewind one of the bobbins of filament. It was......less than pleasant. But, it worked. It was originally wound too tightly and it was pulling and snapping. I did most of the unwinding and rewinding. My arms were sore for a few days. This is what my rewinding setup looked like: 

We wound it onto a fiber cable drum we had and then I rewound it onto the bobbin it came on. A little uneven but it worked. 

With Husband working from home for a good long while, he went to his office and cleared out his desk and brought it all home. He's been saying he's been wanting to "start it over" again for awhile. These were the pictures that were on his desk. They're now in our bedroom. 

One of the stranger things to happen this past week was the random thunderstorm system that moved through the San Francisco Bay Area on Saturday night. Lightning and thunder and pouring rain...the whole works. And just after we finished painting the side and front of our house. We had some dry rot issues so we had fixed them but we needed to paint. So we spent this week getting things ready to paint, we painted on Saturday, and then Sunday night...thunderstorm! It actually started some fires in the area from lightning strikes. 

Sunday morning, Stormageddon decided he wanted to go outside. He didn't actually go but he was dressed for the weather.....I guess. Also, we had some carnage in our backyard. A branch broke off and wound up in our yard. Whatever. 

The boys tried to celebrate this week by playing Zelda. Little Man has been making shields and swords and the whole thing all summer long. So, they've been doing that and loving it. I'm not sure how much time they'll have now that school has started but we'll see how things go.

The only major things left to do before today were getting Little Man's room clean and getting a suitable space for both Stormageddon and I to work. That involved buying some plants. 

I know. I'm turning into one of those weirdos. Whatever, it's fine. I picked up two aloe plants and a jade plant at Costco the other day. 

One made it's way to Little Man's desk. He chose which one. The nice thing about succulents in general is they don't require a lot of water. So, it was watered the day we bought it and now it won't need water for a few more weeks. 

Little Man's room was.....well, quite frankly, it was a pigsty. We threw out four 13-gal bags of garbage (so not the big 26-gal black bags, the white ones that are like half the size). And we didn't go through every single thing. But we did 95% of it. It is so much better. And I'm really hoping we can keep it this way. 

Thankfully, he was happy with the result. And if he wasn't, I don't really care because it was bad in there. The problem is that he's creative so he winds up with bits of tape and paper and cardboard and it takes up room and it's bulky....but we took care of it.

This, of course, brought us to today. The first day of school. This morning, the boys and I went to the school to pick up materials, then we came home to go through said materials and both boys had some work to do and some meetings to attend and all was well. 

Little Man is heading into the 4th grade and Stormageddon started Kindergarten. When did my babies get so big?!

Because we're not going back to in-person classes, everyone was required to wear masks and practice proper social distancing while gathering materials today. It also meant that things were rather bare at school. So, we took it upon ourselves to make signs for the school. I say the royal "we" as we didn't have time to make our sign yesterday. 

And would you look at this?! I got Stormageddon to do his work without much complaining. He did request a break about halfway through his work but he did so well. He was practicing his letters and doing some coloring and working on his pencil grip. 

And now, I think I've bored you all to tears so I'm going to call it and go to bed! I hope you've had a lovely week and weekend! 

Happy Blogiversary

Today is Friday, August 17, 2018.

As of today, I have been writing on this blog for.....nine years (I had to go look - my first post was in 2009). In those nine years, I've written 869 posts (with this one being 869).

My most-viewed month was September 2013, with 16K views. My most-viewed post was my first-ever yarn review, written 14 January 2013 (which can be found here). I've had 8970 visitors referred through Google & Google Canada.


It's been a long road with lots of changes. I got married, we had a child, we moved cross-country, we had another child.........and there has been lots of knitting and talk about knitting and photos and love. And spam. Because, let's face it, people suck and will do anything for a whole dollar, including spamming people with random crap.

Oh well.



Here's hoping we have some more years around here :)

Eight Years.

On this day, eight years ago, I posted my first entry to this blog.

Eight years later, I've had eight hundred three posts (803) eight hundred four posts (804, if you count this one), an average of about 100/year.

It's been a wild ride. Let's continue :)

Seven Year Itch

Happy Wednesday!

Do you know what today is? You don't, do you?

Okay, aside from today being Little Man's first day of kindergarten, today also marks the Seven Year Itch....or, rather, on this day, seven years ago, I wrote my first blog post here....and second, actually.

I feel like so many things have changed in my little corner of the universe and, yet, at the same time, I almost feel like I'm doing the same old things over and over.

In the last seven years, I've gotten married, had one monkey, moved 2500 miles from home, had another monkey, started design work, spent far too much money on yarn and other fibery goods, taken classes, met wonderful people, met shitty people, gone up and down and all around, and....yeah, so many things.

So, you know, woo-hoo for that.

I have a post scheduled for tomorrow and another one for Saturday...and then Year of Projects on Sunday. Woo. Maybe an FO Friday will be forthcoming. I don't know. Whatever and ever amen.

I hope you're having a lovely Wednesday!

Happy Blogiversary :)

It occurs to me that as of today, I have been writing on this blog for six years. Yes, SIX YEARS! To see where it all started, you could visit my first blog post (please be aware the the only thing linked in that post is long gone).

I've been blogging for quite awhile. If I am honest with myself, I started blogging when I was in high school in the mid-1990s, which means I've been blogging for most of the last 20 years...maybe a titch longer than that. My first blog was on LiveJournal, while still an active blogging site, no longer has a blog written by me. Sometimes, I have to wonder how it's possible that I've been blogging for that long but the proof is in the pudding.

SIX YEARS

I am.....I just.....WHAT?! Six years?!

Let's talk about the blog statistics. As of this post, 582 posts have been written, which is an average of 97 posts per uyear. Now, did I write 97 posts every year? No. That's silly. Ninety-seven posts is just the average over the six years. My most-read post was my very first yarn review on Cascade 220, with 4180 views (as of this writing). My most-viewed month was September 2013, with 16,879 views during that month. The website that refers the most viewers is, of course, Google (with 3,542 referrals), followed distantly by my Ravelry profile (with 695). The top 10 countries of my viewers are: United States, Ukraine, Russia, France, China, the UK, Canada, Poland, the Netherlands, and Germany.

As for the blog.........

Well, I'm still a yarn addict. My stash has only grown more since that first post six years ago. I've become a much better knitter, have started doing more design work, I've picked up spinning, I'm active on Ravelry, and I'm pretty sure I've shown some people the light toward knitting and/or spinning......or the dark side (we have cookies). Whichever.

I feel like the last six years have flown by, and they have...but at the same time, I feel like I've been a blogger for eternity (and considering I've spent almost 2/3 of my life as a blogger, I suppose that's true).

Anyway, happy Monday :) Happy blogiversary to me :) Woo! Have a good week, kids!